After 12 years or more the wooden shingles on the studio roof needed attention. The moss and accumulated leaf debris had grown thick and a slight ingress of water was evident. It needed fixing - sooner rather than later.

Since moving into the building two years ago I’d thought about getting more natural light into the studio and reckoned that new Velux roof lights would be the ideal solution. Now there was an opportunity to get the roof fixed and turn the space into a perfect light-filled art studio.

When I got back from the Antarctic in late November the job was finished with three skylights flooding light into a warm and creative-inducing space. Just have to do some decent work to justify it!

Christmas Card 2017

My first job in the bright new studio has been making cards - about 120 of them!

Throughout the year while printing and doing other work in the studio I set aside every scrap of paper. Most are strips or halves torn from much larger sheets of Fabriano Rosapina and Somerset Satin the two papers I use most for printmaking.

Having decided on a very simple and graphic image I lay out 10 small pieces of paper. Firstly I run across each with a couple warm coloured oil pastels or waxy coloured pencils marking the main shape, then using perhaps one additional coloured oil pastel quickly scribble the background. Then with a cold watercolour wash splash liberally across across the paper relying on the repelling of oil and water to create a seemingly complex image. The essence is to keep it as simple as possible.